Shut down the Potomac River Generating Station

The Potomac River Generating Station, owned by Texas-based energy conglomerate GenOn, is a 514-megawatt coal-fired power plant located just downstream from our nation’s capital in Washington, DC.1 Though nearly 140,000 people live within three miles of the plant, the power from Potomac River is not used locally . The plant emits massive amounts of mercury into the air every year, in addition to tons of hazardous air pollutants.

Over the past year, the plant has dumped hundreds of gallons of oil into and around the Potomac River. It is destroying Appalachia by continuing to burn mountaintop removal coal, and it is poisoning communities in both Maryland and Virginia by dumping toxic coal ash there. Alexandria’s waterfront can be developed in a way that generates revenue and much needed urban green space for the community without polluting the air and water and making people sick.

The Potomac River Generating Station is an aging, inefficient facility that has long harmed the health of the surrounding communities while pouring millions of tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere. For nearly a decade, the City of Alexandria and its residents have voiced that the continued operation of this power plant destroys the local environment and poses a major threat to public health. We urge you to listen to this voice and respect our community’s wishes by setting a retirement schedule for the coal plant this year.----------------